Recently attending a private drinks reception, hosted by a well-known Mayfair property firm, I was asked by at least two of the well-heeled guests to explain why they should be interested in bridging. One was a professional property developer of many years’ standing and the other a deep-pocketed investor with a keen eye for the main chance.

Poised canapé in hand, I assumed my most ambassadorial of airs to do justice to the industry that helps put bread on my table each week. As you’d expect, I expounded on the unchallengeable fact that bridging is delivering substantial amounts of liquidity at a time when other lending sectors plainly are not. I said while much is made, often derisively, that the sector is worth ‘just’ £1 billion or so per annum, it’s a £1 billion worth of lending that otherwise wouldn’t be there.

I waxed lyrically too about how bridging, to me, represents the ‘lost art of personal interaction’. Where other parts of the lending world have given themselves over to automation and faceless processing, bridging encourages individuals to come together to find negotiated, commonsense solutions. In my experience, I said, this quality is highly valued by lenders, brokers and clients alike – all the more so as you move up the net-worth scale.

And, I reminded my listeners, let’s not forget that in these austere times bridging is successfully creating jobs, value and wealth. It is also, I swelled, something of a cradle for innovation, both in product and service terms. The scale may be modest, I conceded, but it adds up to a series of positives in a period of negatives.

Having secured their attention (or were they just interested to see where this rambling half-wit would take them next?), I fascinated them further with an erudite explanation about contemporary bridging’s ability to provide ready access to funding and flexible product choices. I explained how, working closely with specialist brokers, lenders are able to construct a wide array of alternative and affordable solutions for developers caught by the credit squeeze. Size, I said, is not a problem as small-scale developers are able to gain as much from the sector as seasoned portfolio-developing professionals.

As might be expected, I was challenged by both the investor and the developer about price. I explained that as a product designed specifically for short term use, it should be expected that bridging is more expensive than other longer-term solutions. Costs, I added, are also determined by the labour-intensive nature of packaging and processing a bridging deal and the often lengthy negotiations required to get the more complex bridges ‘over the line’. Legal and valuation fees alone, I pointed out, can have a significant impact on the total cost.

But in return, I reminded them, borrowers are getting access to specialist lenders and brokers able to understand – and find a way through – often quite complex, nuanced lending scenarios, many of which would cause a mainstream lender to reach for the ‘declined’ stamp without so much as a moment’s hesitation. Such flexibility and specialism comes at a price, a fact many sophisticated and financially-aware borrowers understand and consider worth paying.

My evening closed on a series of firm handshakes, the ceremonial exchange of business cards (thank Harry Redknapp that most people have turned their backs on the irritating trend of ‘Blue-toothing’ their details from one mobile to another… Yuk.) and a promise of further meetings. One’s already in the diary for this week, as are two further drinks-and-canapés receptions. In common with many of my peers and colleagues, I’m the salesman who just keeps on giving.